It is well known to provide newly planted plants, including seedling trees and shrubs, with a protective screen during its early formative growing period. Such plant screens are generally constructed to prevent the plant from being physically damaged by wind or other environmental factors such as being eaten by rodents and other animals or being trampled on by stock animals.
Such known plant guards are conventionally of two types. There are those in which the guard extends about only a part of the plant. Typically such guards are v-shaped and held in place by three vertically arranged stakes, one at each end and one at the apex. In such arrangements the apex of the guard is arranged to point into the direction of the expected prevailing wind to deflect the wind from the plant. The other principal type of plant guard are those that substantially completely surround the plant. Such guards may be circular, square or of any other desired cross sectional shape. They will normally a tube of a synthetic plastics material film held in place by three or more stakes driven into the ground inside the tube and spaced apart around the plant.
In the case of either of the known types of tree guard the guard serves only a part of the function of protecting the plant during its early post-planting life. The reason for this is that the plant is susceptible to a number of adverse environmental influences in addition to physical damage. There is desiccation which is a major problem while the plant establishes its root system, there is also the problem of weed competition. The tree guard to the type that completely surrounds the plant will to some extent shade out weed competition and protect the ground closely adjacent to the plant from drying out as rapidly as it otherwise might. None of the known tree guards, however address the fundamental problem of supplying water to the freshly planted plant during the first weeks and months after it is planted.
It is known to provide a water reservoir adjacent to a newly planted plant however such known reservoirs provide no protection against other environmental hazards as have been described above. The provision of water to newly planted trees and shrubs until they become established can be a substantial undertaking and represent a cost that is considerably greater than the initial cost of the plant.
Attempts have been made to conserve water through mulching of newly planted plants however such efforts only address the issue of the rate of water loss and not the application of water to the plant.
The present invention is designed to provide an alternative to known plant guards which are designed to enable plants to be more readily nurtured in the period after they have been planted.